The present disclosure relates generally to managing privileged documents and, in particular, to a system and method for electronically managing privileged and non-privileged documents for litigation support.
Legal matters often involve large volumes of information that must be organized and categorized in response to particular inquires or issues, such as litigation pleadings, business transactions, government regulations, and other legal matters. The information can include privileged, non-privileged and partially privileged documents which are typically managed by a centralized organization, such as a legal department or group therein having document coordinators.
The management of privileged documents in an electronic storage system poses several legal and technical challenges. The electronic storage system must be designed to protect legal claims of privilege and not allow the inadvertent waiver of privilege. The commingling of privileged and non-privileged documents in an electronic storage system can result in the inadvertent waiver of privilege. Current litigation systems do not prevent the commingling of privileged and non-privileged documents in an electronic storage system. Although users are able to mark a record, or document, as privileged, the record continues to reside in the same repository as non-privileged documents. It would be desirable for an electronic storage system, along with any supporting data repositories, to protect all privilege claims and allow for the separation of privileged and non-privileged documents.
In addition to separating privileged and non-privileged documents, it would also be desirable for an electronic storage system to allow for real-time identification of privileged material and the immediate real-time transfer of the identified privileged material to a dedicated privileged schema and the real-time removal of the privileged material from the non-privileged schema. Further, it would be desirable for an electronic storage system to provide a notification to users when the privileged status has changed or is under consideration for change to prevent inadvertent disclosure of privileged information. In addition, it would be desirable for an electronic storage system to allow for production of privileged documents from the privileged schema when required by law or court order.